A woman sentenced for “borrowing” a pizza delivery car was described by the judge as a work in progress in Red Deer provincial court on Wednesday.
Originally charged with impersonating a police officer and theft over $5,000, Robyn Langhorst, 27, had pleaded guilty on March 25 to theft under $5,000. Other charges were subsequently withdrawn.
Court heard on Wednesday that the car she stole, a 2001 Honda Civic, was worth less than $5,000. Langhorst had found the car idling in front of a pizza delivery business at about 3:30 a.m. on April 23, 2012. She drove it away while the driver was inside picking up an order, but returned it, undamaged at about 11 p.m.
After reviewing a pre-sentence report prepared by her probation officer, Judge Bert Skinner said to Langhorst that her recent brushes with the law arise from an addiction to drugs, ordering her to take whatever treatment and counselling recommended by her probation officer advising her to do what she can to stay clean.
He accepted a joint proposal offered by Crown prosecutor Murray McPherson and defence counsel Michael Mussieux of Edmonton, granting Langhorst a suspended sentence with 18 months of probation.
Conditions of the probation include 40 hours of community service and payment of a victims of crime surcharge of $100.
Skinner warned Langhorst that it is her duty to stay clean and that any breach of her probation conditions could result in harsher penalties.